I went out to eat at Olive Garden last Saturday with two of my girlfriends. We were seated across from a table where two women and a very little boy (I'd say about three--old enough to talk and run around but still pretty small) were seated.

The boy was allowed to get pretty loud and crawl around their table. We were able to tune him out and ignore him until the flying shoe incident.

Towards the end of their meal, the little boy was in the middle of the room doing karate moves and making associated noises . In the middle of an enthusiastic kick his shoe flew off and hit a woman in the shoulder who was eating dinner.

Cue child yelling "MA!!! MY SHOE!" at the top of his lungs.

The mother, who did witness the shoe hitting the woman because she and her friend burst out laughing, didn't say anything to the child, just picked his shoe up and put it back on him and then sat down and continued with her conversation. No apology, not even an apologetic look. The child continued to do karate moves until they finally gathered their things and left.

Is there anything we could have said or done? The woman who was hit was definitely angry given the icy glare of death she was shooting towards the woman, but she didn't say anything. Could we have complained to management on her behalf?

Yikes! I think you could have complained to management, but not on her own behalf (that's for her to do if she chooses). The child was distracting you as well, even if the shoe didn't hit you, so I think that's worth a complaint.

Yikes! I think you could have complained to management, but not on her own behalf (that's for her to do if she chooses). The child was distracting you as well, even if the shoe didn't hit you, so I think that's worth a complaint.

Absolutely! I can't believe the mom did nothing. I definitely would have complained.

I would have complained to management not so much on her behalf (though if I were her I would have gotten extremely vocal about the incident and asked that table to be removed) but because there was risk of it happening again since the party did not contain the child afterwards. I have no interest in getting hit with the child's shoe and potentially injured. I don't like to spend my time eating also keeping an eye out for possible projectiles and would find it hard to relax with him continuing the behavior.

As for the women with him... they laughed??? This mom will be cursed with a life of issues with the child brought on entirely by her own doing. What a terrible person.

Wow, what a SS. Guess everybody is supposed to think her little darling is adorable. I don't think you could complain on the woman's behalf, but you can still complain about the child making noise, standing in the middle of the room, and being a general nuisance. I would also mention you noticed the shoe incident and that another customer was hit to show the seriousness of the situation. I wouldn't point out which customer and leave that up to her to complain.

If I was the woman who was hit, the first thing I would have to do would be restrain Evil Emmy from doing and saying what I was truly thinking. Something like that would ruin a meal, especially since the parent (and I use the term loosely) was amused by her son's misbehavior. The shoe could also easily have landed in somebody's food or on a table which would be very unappetizing and unsanitary. I would complain to management and if nothing was done, I would either write a letter to corperate (if applicable) or boycot the establishment and write on yelp why exactly I wouldn't visit again.

Then again, "MA! My SHOE!" is going to be yelled at random times by me.

I would have complained and mentioned the shoe incident in a "I'm afraid it's going to happen again" type of way.

Logged

'I shall sit here quietly by the fire for a bit, and perhaps go out later for a sniff of air. Mind your Ps and Qs, and don't forget that you are supposed to be escaping in secret, and are still on the high-road and not very far from the Shire!' -FOTR

I would have left immediately. After paying for all substance not contaminated by flying shoe. If the shoe flew over any food, it could have well dropped street crud on the plate before hitting shoulder. This child should have been contained either by his parents or the staff long before this incident occurred.

I have a feeling if the struck woman would have actually said something, the answer from the parent would have been along the lines of, "It wasn't that big of a deal! It's not like the shoe hit her head!"

Wow, I heard a very similar story just yesterday from a relative. This relative's sibling and spouse were at dinner with their 2 year old. 2 year old threw a plate (that hit a waitress in the back of the head), as well as bread, silverware...

Their food hadn't arrived at their table yet, but when it did it was boxed up to go, along with the "recommendation" they take the kid and enjoy their meal somewhere, anywhere, else.

Yes I think it would be good to complain to management, if for other reason than others could suffer such treatment in the future. This is yet another example of why I refuse to be seated near children anymore. It seems like many parents don't bother to teach their kids to apologize or to "knock it off" anymore, they just seem to act like nothing happened.